I just got back from
Liberia. It was a fascinating and exciting trip with very positive outcomes.
The project is for 600-800 houses as a demonstration of a low income,
environmentally healthy community. It is intended as the first step in a
national housing program. We met with the President of Liberia, Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf. She is a remarkable person and the first woman President in
Africa. We discussed the project with her at length. Her understanding of
the details was impressive and she is highly supportive of our approach. The
fact that she met with us for over an hour in the midst of an extremely
demanding schedule was encouraging to us and shows the priority she places
on this project.

I felt the conditions
were good for a successful project. In Liberia we have the natural
resources, government support, mortgage financing, some open minded,
intelligent and energetic professional and business people and a motivated
local population that needs and wants work and is open to new solutions.

The Context.
Liberia is in difficult circumstances. They have just come out of 14 years
of war. Our driver, John, had 11 children, 4 of whom were killed in the war,
apparently when they asked for food. There is no electric grid. The only
sources of electricity we saw were gasoline generators. We visited Johnís
family at his house. They are 5 people living in 2 bedrooms with no kitchen,
no bathroom, no sewage, no water, and no electricity. For that he pays
$30/month, which is about 1/3 of his income.

Outside John's house, looking at neighbors. Houses are small and close
together. Concrete block & metal roof, no water, no sewer, no electricity. click image for larger picture.

Against this
socio-economic backdrop Liberia is rich in resources. In my view the problem
is seeing that those resources are used for the benefit of ordinary
Liberians. We havenít had time yet to research the local resources but some
that are visible on a first trip are the land, which is strikingly
beautiful; water, which is plentiful and nurtures the luxuriant landscape;
timber, bamboo and palm; and laterite soil which can make excellent earth
building materials.

The People. We
found a lot of enthusiasm in people and a lot of potential for making things
better. We met informally with people in our driverís neighborhood and
discussed their ideas and ours about how to improve their housing and
community. One of Johnís sons is studying sociology at the University of
Liberia. He said he would like to do a case study for us of how people in
his neighborhood like to interact with each other and how this affects the
physical design of a new or improved community. The neighbors participated
with animation in our conversations. There is a will and energy to get
things done.

John's family in front of their house.

The Team. During
this first visit to Liberia we found interesting, intelligent and energetic
people to work with in the government, professional and business community.
There was also a lot of support for our emphasis on high quality housing for
everyone, not just the wealthy, the use of local materials, development of
local business, industry and jobs, education, community participation,
sustainability, and protecting the environment.

* We have an excellent
development & financial team. We were invited to this project by Jim
Brenner, a partner in Broad Cove Partners, a private equity management firm
that has done a number of projects in Africa including starting a bank in
Ghana. Jim is a very energetic and creative guy. He has the realistic view
that to be sustainable and have long term impact the project must pay for
itself. However, he doesnít let that stifle the project. He is clearly
committed to doing something to benefit low-income people and is willing to
take risks and spend money in the effort to do that. He is also working on a
high-end project in Monrovia. Everything I have seen indicates that our
low-income (actually mixed income) project is driven more by doing good than
by profit.

* Prior to meeting with
the President we met with the National Housing Authority (NHA), Ministry of
Lands and Mines, National Housing Secretariat, representatives of the U.S.
Embassy and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), local architects
and builders, a local building materials factory, an attorney dealing with
land tenure, a local Polytechnic school and residents of several local
communities.

* The Director of the
National Housing Secretariat, Frank Krah and a Liberian architect, Sylvanus
OĎConnor (a U.S. architecture graduate who also teaches at the Stella Maris
Polytechnic Institute in Monrovia) wrote a housing policy report for the
government that could have come directly from Groundwork. We expect to be
working closely with them.

Capacity Building.
For many reasons we feel it is beneficial to engage local educational
institutions. The students and faculty help involve the community. They
learn. We learn from them. They tend to be creative and explorers. They can
be the ones to carry out the next phase of the project. Sylvanus OíConnor
arranged for us to meet with the Dean of the Stella Maris Polytechnic and
about 30 students. The students were excited with the work and goals we
discussed with them. They raised excellent questions and also had useful
knowledge. They were anxious to participate. With the faculty and students
we can do research that is not possible with a normal design budget. The
Dean is willing to do this in the context of a class at the Polytechnic and
Sylvanus indicated his willingness to teach the class. The University of
San Francisco architecture department is also willing to participate which
adds an energizing piece of interaction for the classes in both countries.

One of two building sites secured by NHA. It is gently
sloped, covered with brush and small trees and shrubs, few large trees.

Property and Finance.
The NHA (National Housing Authority) has optioned 2 sites of 100-150 acres
each. We would build approximately 600 houses for Liberians who can afford
payments of $125/month on average. That is not the lowest income people and
we will also look at some options for people who can afford something like
$30/month. We may look at cross subsidies from higher income houses.

Jim Brenner of
Boston-based Broad Cove Partners is organizing long-term funding for the
project. Last year Broad Cove helped a team of local entrepreneurs in Ghana
establish a new mortgage lending institution with a credit line from OPIC
(Overseas Private Investment Corporation) a U.S. Government agency that has
lent $1.5 billion for housing internationally from 2001-2006. Broad Cove has
OPICís preliminary support for a construction and home-owner loan facility
for this project. OPIC sent a representative for their due diligence
who visited the site with us and participated in meetings with NHA.
The project also has preliminary support from prominent U.S. and European
socially responsible institutional investors who are looking at equity
investments, micro-mortgage funding, and alternative energy infrastructure
loans.

Conclusion. I am
convinced we have enough positive factors here to do an exceptional project.
I think we will be able to do a project that is both beautiful and within
the means of the majority of people in Liberia. There are many open
questions and a lot of work to do. Weíll keep you posted.